Uranium Road is a documentary about nuclear energy in SA. It takes a look at the history of nuclear energy in SA leading up to the present. I was expecting something about the Pebble Bed technology and information on the pros and cons, but it wasn’t about that at all.

The main thrust of the documentary was demonstrating how nuclear energy in apartheid times was shrouded in secrecy and the government used it for profit and for weapons. When the ANC government came into power, before the actually developed a nuclear policy they stated that everything would be done with public input and transparency. Uranium Road then goes on to show how that has not happened and that it is still shrouded in secrecy and there is still very little public participation.

Whenever there is a lack of transparency I become very suspicious. The fact that the government and industry is being so secrective makes me worry. When they fast track environmental studies and subsidise the research 20x more than alternative fuels, I get very worried.

The discussion afterwards was very interesting because there were some people in the audience that knew what they were talking about. I normally always learn something interesting when there is discussion after a documentary viewing.

I still have a lot to learn about nuclear energy and its pros and cons, but as I mentioned earlier, the secrecy and money involved make me extremely suspicious that all is not right. I have also read some interesting articles on why nuclear energy is not the answer, like this one here.

Uranium Road was interesting and informative but you’ll be disappointed if you are wanting to learn more about nuclear energy because it doesn’t go into that much.

It is showing at the Labia tomorrow (10th) and Tuesday (11th) at 8pm. Call the Labia on 021 424 5927 to book.

Thanks to While You Were Sleeping for their great work in making these documentaries available to the public.


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